Before there was Facebook and Twitter, there was "Yonders My Best Friend" and I loved it. I don't remember any of the stories but I do remember that they were heart warming and fun to read. Today, it seems like my best friend is my embroidery machine - I spend too much time with it!

For the Halloween season, I thought it might be fun to create something different as a costume for myself. I wanted it to be simple and innovative. I decided on a t-shirt and this is what I came up with - (Note: the duct tape is my favorite - no work at all!!!)

This is an old t-shirt, with stains and I did put it inside out. I think it will be just fine for me.

I used the Alphabet Xpress font, Adrian. With AX being on sale, you will really want to check it out. AX is so versitile and allows for resizing and color changes for you to create something you really want. Selecting colors as an after the fact choice is never a good option. Have you considered that some of the colors may well be 'layered' over another color. If you chose something that is too close in hue or too opposed, the outcome can be a poor project. (Go ahead, ask my how I KNoW that!) When you can see the precise colors, what a difference. You can see my tutorials for the Alphabet Xpress Blogs and learn how to take your embroidery to the next level.

Just the same, children of all ages are planning to say something like 'show me the candy!' to everyone they meet. They will be wearing old clothes and new costumes. They will be excited as a Christmas morning. The wide eyed little ones are my favorites and therefore, I want to show them I love to have them at my front door. I really hope it is a hit with them, because I LOVE simple and appreciate cheap too!

Love this one!!!

Here is a bonus - I get emails from Madeira and they put together a Tension Test that I think really covers a lot of ground. It has:

Underlay

narrow columns

medium columns

wide columns

If you would like a copy, you can download from the attachments below.

I'm not sure what the tension test is supposed to show and how to use this tool - the type of underlay needed for the different width stitchouts? Or am I supposed to test different threads with it? Please explain.